Faculty Spotlight
April - May 2002
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Fishing for Technology Advances to Enhance Student LearningRichard StrangeProfessorForestry, Wildlife, and Fishery |
About three years ago, Dr. Richard Strange heard some talk on campus about "doing technology." He was then at a point in his career when he was ready for some professional development. At this point, an instructor can start taking courses, join a committee, or buy a software package and teach himself some web design.
Dr. Strange bought the Adobe web design package with GoLive and LiveMotion, based solely on the strength of Adobe’s reputation with PhotoShop. GoLive allows the user to create web pages that range from the most basic to complex sites with multimedia enhancements and database connectivity. LiveMotion helps a web designer create dynamic, interactive content, generating simple Flash files without scripting. He had in mind adding animation to traditionally static content.
Richard used the Adobe package to enhance his course in Fish Physiology, WFS 550. The version of LiveMotion he was using did not, at the time, have scripting capability, so the 80 Flash movies which he added to the course site were, of necessity, simple. But mastering the development of Flash movies at this level provided a strong foundation for future ventures into multimedia interactivity as a learning tool.
"Hooking" a Grant
In 2000, Richard applied for and was awarded an ITC Teaching with
Technology grant to redesign a limnology course for delivery on
the Web. The reasons he chose this topic at this time are instructive.
Limnology had once been a standard course for students in this
field but had been dropped from the catalogue. However, Richard
noted that "you must know limnology before
you can proceed into fishery science." This acknowledgement created
a perfect scenario for a web-based instructional module.1 of 4 -->